It’s a category of more than 4,000 industrial chemicals that affect our lives nearly every day — and many of which are toxic. So what do journalists need to know to report on the emerging contaminants known as PFAS? Our most recent Issue Backgrounder offers a detailed primer on what PFAS are, where they come from, what their health effects are and how they might be cleaned up.
Millions of people across the United States are believed to be drinking PFAS-contaminated water. And a growing database could prove an invaluable resource for environmental journalists trying to get a handle on that public health risk. Our latest biweekly Reporter’s Toolbox, recently refocused on data journalism tools and techniques, explains how to tap the expanding PFAS data.
"After a 10-month wait, preliminary work began Thursday on the delicate task of removing barrels sitting in Wallowa Lake marked as containing defoliants used in Agent Orange."
"Last week, we learned that the Food and Drug Administration had detected PFAS compounds in pineapple, sweet potato, meat, and chocolate cake. ... [I]t has become clear that 3M, the company that originally developed PFOS and PFOA, had known for a very long time that these toxic and persistent chemicals were in our food."
"Pot prohibition is gradually lifting, but state and federal growing guidance is lacking. EHN visited West Coast growers committed to nudging the fledgling industry in a chemical-free, Earth-friendly direction."
"President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday directing federal agencies to ease rules for approving genetically modified crops and other agricultural biotechnology."
A lengthy investigation yielded one small-market environmental reporting team an award-winning project examining the adequacy of a toxic solvent cleanup in a polluted community. Our latest “Inside Story” talks with a team member behind the project to learn about the challenges, the lessons learned and advice for others tracking similar problems.
"Overuse of antibiotics in livestock has given rise to drug-resistant germs. Drugmakers say they want to be part of the solution. But a recent campaign urged farmers to administer the drugs to healthy animals daily."
"Mary Gonzalez wanted to know why there wasn’t an alarm when a tank holding toxic chemicals caught fire in Deer Park in March."
"The Food and Drug Administration’s first broad testing of food for a worrisome class of nonstick, stain-resistant industrial compounds found substantial levels in some grocery store meats and seafood and in off-the-shelf chocolate cake, according to unreleased findings FDA researchers presented at a scientific conference in Europe."
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